Stony Brook can't get the bats going, eliminated in NCAA regional

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Stony Brook's bats fell silent Saturday for the second consecutive day, and for the second consecutive day, the Seawolves lost in the NCAA regional, this time, 6-0, to Oregon State, ending their season.

Oregon State's Marina Demore breezed through the Stony Brook lineup, allowing just two hits and one runner to reach second base. The offensive struggles will be what Stony Brook coach Megan Bryant remembers from her team's 2013 NCAA Tournament run, even if she can't explain them.

"I don't know if there's ever an explanation as to why the bats go silent," Bryant said. "We just didn't have it this weekend. You've got to give credit to the pitchers here, but we've seen pitchers as good, we've hit pitchers as good as the ones here."

Stony Brook starter Allison Cukrov kept the Seawolves close until Oregon State broke the game open with five runs in the fourth inning. But that was hardly Cukrov's fault. Twice that inning, Stony Brook had an Oregon State player caught in a rundown with two outs and twice failed to get an out.

With the score 1-0 and a runner on first, Oregon State catcher Ally Kutz singled to rightfield, sending her teammate to third. Kutz then turned first base too far and got caught between first and second. But Stony Brook hesitated, worried about the runner at third, and allowed Kutz to return to first safely.

Two batters later, Lea Cavestany singled to left, and Maggie Doremus was caught between second and third when the relay throw was cut off. Cavestany raced all the way to second, and the runner on third lingered close to her bag, leaving Doremus dead in the water.

But instead of tagging Doremus, Stony Brook third baseman Olivia Mintun looked to third. Her diving tag was avoided, giving all the runners ample time to return to their bags and giving Oregon State another extra out.

"I thought she was a lot further off than she was at third," Mintun said. "And then when I dove to tag her, I just missed her foot."

Ya Garcia was then hit by a pitch, forcing in a run, and Elizabeth Santana followed with a three-run double.

"That inning, the game got away from us," Bryant said. "Even when it's 1-0, it's a lot more manageable. If we were able to put some runs on the board and gain some momentum, it would have helped us, but we didn't have the offense today to be able to do that."